Coming Home
by Kadi219
Summary: [Raydor/Flynn] - Family bonds come in many forms, and despite disappointments and anger, and even the hurt, sometimes what a loved one needs is to just be able to come home again. Shandy, but with a look at the shape that family could take given the long lives they have lived apart.
1. Chapter 1

**Coming Home**

 **By Kadi**

 **Rated: K+**

 **Disclaimer:** This is not my sandbox, but I do enjoy it so.

 **A/N:** As always, thanks to the wonderful beta **deenikn8** and the twin **kate04us**.

 **WARNING:** Character illness  & death. Not main character, depending on POV, but a death just the same.

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

It was looking like a case of teenage hijinks gone wrong. What started as a series of pranks had resulted in the death of a nineteen-year-old boy. The victim was the nephew of the Deputy Mayor, and so a lot of pressure was being placed on Major Crimes to close the case, and to close it quickly. A group of thefts and vandalism had been plaguing the fraternity houses at USC. Cars were broken into and spray-painted, bicycles were dismantled, and one of the houses had been toilet papered while lewd messages were written in paint on the doors and windows. Campus police were unable to find those responsible, or even come up with any leads, and so they had turned the matter over to the LAPD.

The case was still being investigated when a body was found in the pool at one of the houses where a break-in was also reported. Two of the young men occupying the house had returned late to find the house trashed and their fraternity brother floating in the pool. From his state of dress, the defensive wounds on the body, and the obvious struggle that had taken place inside the house, it looked as though their young victim was at home at the time that their suspects had chosen to vandalize the property.

It was obvious that those responsible had something against Greek Life, but it was unclear what that was in the beginning. Now that the case involved a murder and Major Crimes was involved, they had managed to find out a little more about the vandalisms. They pulled traffic cameras on the streets near the houses that were hit, and were able to narrow down a list of possible suspects.

The sound of the Captain's heels clicking against tile could be heard as she returned from updating Chief Taylor. As usual he wanted more answers than they had at present. He was feeling the political pressure of the case. Pressure that he mostly brought upon himself, but that did not change the facts that they were dealing with. The Mayor's office wanted answers. Sharon had only a precious few to offer them. Her team was only just beginning to piece this case together. It was going to take time to solve it.

Sharon paused just inside the Murder Room. Everyone was hard at work running down the evidence that they had and putting the witness statements together. They were outlining the connections between their suspects and the Frat houses that were hit leading up to the murder. What they had were three college kids that had been kicked out of a fraternity house two years before. One of them had since flunked out of college and the other two were barely hanging on. Sharon didn't want to spook any of them before her team had an opportunity to bring all three in for questioning. If they could get even one of them to crack, they would have what they needed. In the meantime, every one of her detectives was working hard to sew this case up. They always did.

It had been a long few days, however. The first had been spent learning about their victim and his housemates. They had tracked down alibis and witnesses. Then they had learned about the vandalisms happening in the area, and it was a matter of pulling those case files and digging into two cases at once. They were all running on very little sleep and a great deal of coffee. They had taken a small break that morning, Sharon had sent everyone home to shower and change, but within a couple of hours they were all back and hard at work again. She glanced at her watch and sighed. In another few hours she would dismiss them for the night. The Chief may want answers, but he would not get them if her people where so exhausted that they could not think clearly.

With that decided, Sharon rolled her neck and shoulders and strode toward her office. She was only a few steps away from it when Andy turned in his chair and stood. She could see the tension in the long lines of his body. He moved slowly, muscles stiff from having sat in one position too long. A small, understanding smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. Thoughts of taking him home and rubbing his shoulders in exchange for having him wash her hair were so enticing that she was almost tempted to dismiss everyone right then. Sharon stamped down on that urge; there were still a few more workable hours that they could squeeze out of this day before she gave in to her exhaustion.

She tilted her head at him instead and clasped her hands in front of her. "Yes, Lieutenant?"

Andy nodded toward her office. "You have a visitor," he said quietly. He watched her gaze swing to the open office blinds. Surprise and delight lit her face upon finding Ricky seated in a chair in front of her desk. Those emotions effectively chased away the shadows of fatigue. "He showed up a couple of minutes after you left to go see Taylor," Andy continued. "He seems a little…" He couldn't put his finger on it. The elder of Sharon's two sons was usually far more laid back. Ricky could be a pain in the ass when it came to protecting his mother, sure, but what son wasn't? He had a way of keeping things from her that he shouldn't, but on the whole, as far as personalities went, the kid was pretty easy going. "I don't know," Andy said finally. His hands found his hips as he shook his head. "He's bothered by something, I guess." Which was pretty obvious since the kid was in a quiet, and almost grim mood. Add to that, they hadn't known that he was driving down. Ricky usually called ahead.

"Hm." Sharon's lips pursed in thought. Ricky didn't like to come to her with his troubles anymore. He spoke to Emily about them, or Rusty occasionally. For the most part, he handled it himself. Her son was trying very hard to be the independent and mature adult that she had raised him to be. It was a little difficult at times to remind herself that he was only doing as she taught him. Sharon had a hard time remembering that with all three of her children. "Maybe he is reconsidering that job offer," she suggested. The most pressing issue on Ricky's mind the last few months was an offer that he received from a software firm in Seattle. It was an excellent opportunity, but he was happy where he was. He didn't want to leave Palo Alto, and he liked the work that he was doing. Sharon hadn't liked that it would take him even further away from her, but he would still only be a few hours away by plane. "I will find out." She looked up at Andy again and touched his arm before she moved in to her office.

It had been a couple of months since they had seen Ricky. The last time he was down was to help with the move. After many months of discussion and searching, she and Andy had found a home that they wanted to share. It was a townhouse on the beach that had been foreclosed on. Gavin had told her about it before it was even fully on the market. It belonged to one of his clients who needed to liquidate assets quickly, and while he could not give her any of the details, he promised that the house had not been involved in any illegal doings. Prior to that conversation they were looking at houses in Silver Lake and Echo Park. They had looked at condos downtown and a few very nice apartment complexes with units for sale. Sharon wasn't sold on the idea of having a yard. It was why she had bought her condo to begin with. Andy had liked to spend time working in his, right up until the moment that he sold his house and moved in with her while they searched for something bigger. It was a compromise that they had taken into consideration when searching. Andy didn't want to live in a condo or apartment complex, he didn't like the idea of living so close to others, but Sharon didn't want the yard upkeep. It made for some very interesting conversations. They also needed to consider Rusty, and room for the other children, when or if they visited.

The result was six months of searching, while boxes were stacked along one wall in her dining room and the rest of Andy's things were in storage, before Gavin had come to their rescue. Sharon wasn't initially sold on the townhouse either, and neither was Andy. It sounded as if it might be too much for both of them, and not something that either of them could readily afford, even with pooling their resources. They had to keep in mind that Sharon was putting Rusty through college and retirement was looming ever closer for the both of them. They had only agreed to take a look at it upon learning that the asking price was well within what they had budgeted.

Two months later, it was theirs. It wasn't too big, but there was room enough for everyone. It was right on the beach, something that they hadn't thought they would like, but found that they were enjoying immensely. They had a little bit of a commute in the mornings, but it wasn't terrible, and well worth the fact that they had a home that now belonged to the two of them. Well, the two of them and Rusty, although he spent more of his time at Gus's apartment than he did at home.

If Sharon's other children had any reservations about their mother moving in with her boyfriend, they had faded by the time that the move actually happened. By that point they had been together for almost two years, and even Rusty was calling it the most logical choice they could make. Ricky was glad to help, and spent a weekend transferring boxes from one location to the other, while the movers did the heavy work. He hadn't visited since; they were all busy in the weeks that followed.

Sharon stepped quietly into her office. The door closed with a click that had Ricky's head turning. She smiled brightly at him. "I wasn't expecting you."

"I know." Ricky pulled his long body out of the chair and stepped around it. He wrapped his mother in a hug when she moved closer, and if he held on a little longer than usual, he decided that was okay. "I'm sorry to just show up in the middle of your case like this."

"You should never be sorry for visiting." Sharon leaned back and took a moment to study him more closely. His eyes were guarded, and the usual light in those coffee brown depths was absent. She tipped his chin up and sighed. There were circles beneath his eyes. His skin was pale. Sharon's lips thinned. "Ricky, what is wrong? Why is it that I feel like you are not just popping in for the weekend to say hello?"

He looked down for a moment. His shoulders, stiff and tense though they were, slumped. These days Ricky felt so much older than his twenty-eight years. His expression saddened as he met his mother's gaze. He didn't know what to say, or how to even begin. These last few weeks had been very long, and very hard. He wished he mentioned it before now, and he knew that would be a conversation all on its own. For right now, Ricky only had one thing to say. "I found dad."

Sharon's brows rose as surprise settled over her. Her lips parted but there was no sound forthcoming. She stared at her son. The sadness that was surrounding him was almost a tangible thing. If she reached out, she thought she might be able to place her hand in the thick cloud of it. "Let's have a seat." She gestured toward the chairs in front of her desk. She took one of them while Ricky sat across from her. Sharon leaned forward, on the edge of her seat and touched his hand. "I didn't know that you were looking," she said quietly.

They hadn't heard from Jack much in the last eighteen months or so. Sharon had heard a few things, rumors mostly. She knew that he had managed to get himself out of that lawsuit the previous year, filed by the client that he allowed to remain wrongfully jailed while Jack built a stronger case against the LAPD. It hadn't truly surprised Sharon. Jack had a way of landing on his feet. She hadn't truly thought about it much at the time. Sharon was very busy that winter. There were more pressing worries on her mind. She had needed to get Rusty through the Slider trial, and then there was Andy's health. Sharon hadn't thought about Jack again until a few months later when she heard that he had taken a leave of absence. Not long after that, Ricky and Emily both mentioned that they hadn't heard from their father and he was not returning their calls.

To Sharon it felt par for the course. Jack came and went in their lives like the tide. He was there, and then he was gone, and there seemed no real way to hold on to him. She ached for her children, but she was long past any ability to bridge the gap in their relationship with their father. That time had come and gone. While she was sympathetic to their hurts, and furious with Jack, she was, as Rusty had said, Switzerland.

"Emily wouldn't let it go," Ricky said quietly. "She was really worried. I tried to tell her that he was probably in Vegas somewhere, gambling away whatever money he made working at the firm." Ricky sighed. He ran a hand through his hair. "She didn't want to hear it. She kept saying that he changed. This time he meant it, _really_ meant it. You know what Emily is like…" Ricky had fewer memories of their father from when they were young. He mostly just remembered him being gone. He remembered promises to come to birthdays or Christmas, only to be disappointed when that didn't happen. He remembered the arguments, and the way that his dad would show up in the middle of the night, drunk and yelling, and blaming their mother for everything. Ricky remembered the disappearing acts and watching his mother try to be strong for them, while she cried in her bed at night. He was a lousy father and an even worse husband, but he was what they had. Ricky tried to give him the benefit of the doubt. He was still their dad, but it never surprised him when he found out their dad was off the wagon, or that he was being an ass. It didn't surprise him when Jack disappeared either.

Emily had all the good memories. That was the advantage of being older. She remembered daddy riding her around on his shoulders, and taking her for ice cream. She had ballerina dolls and bedtime songs. Some how, for her, that seemed to make up for all of the disappointments that came later. When Jack told her that he changed, she believed him. When he disappeared this time, Emily wanted to find him. She didn't believe that he was off on a bender, and even if he was, they should help him. Ricky wasn't convinced of that. They couldn't help someone who didn't _want_ their help. Jack had to want it, but for his sister, he had looked.

"Yes I know," Sharon said quietly. She gave Ricky's hand a squeeze. Emily was her daddy's little girl. She would always be his princess, and Ricky was the child who had come along when their marriage was already beginning to crumble. It wasn't long after he was born that Jack left her for the first time. Ricky was all hers. She knew that he tried to be a good son, respectful and loving of his father, but like her, Ricky couldn't live his life waiting for what may never come. He wanted to be present in his life, not simply wait for it. Ricky's sadness was making her ache. There was a tense knot in her stomach that made it clench painfully. Sharon drew a slow breath before she finally asked, "What did you find?"

Ricky tilted his head and looked away from her. Shame settled over him. It turned his ears red, but it was sadness that had his eyes welling with tears. He shook his head slowly and concentrated on breathing. "This time she was right," he whispered. "Dad hasn't been gambling or drinking. He really didn't go that far."

"Ricky." That alarmed her more than anything else. Sharon reached out and tipped his chin up again. Those red, moist eyes tugged at her heart. She felt dread settle over her. It was a cold fist that wrapped its way around her heart. Sharon felt the sting of tears behind her own eyes at the sight of her child's despair. "Where is he?"

"A treatment facility. He's sick." While Ricky gazed back at her, a single tear made it's way down his cheek. "There's a cancer center in Palm Springs. Dad's been living there while…"

He trailed off but Sharon leaned forward. Her stomach was twisting painfully. There was an ache in the back of her throat. "While what?" She almost didn't want to ask it. Her voice hitched and she almost choked on the words. _Cancer_. Both of Jack's parents had died of cancer before the age of sixty. She really had not believed that he would be affected, not with the way that he always seemed to rebound from everything.

Ricky's jaw clenched. He exhaled quietly before he continued. "He found out about it last March. He didn't want anyone to know, so he left the city. His oncologist referred him to the place out in the desert. It's um…" Ricky looked down again. "It's in his pancreas. Stage four, and it's moving pretty fast. They were pretty aggressive with treating it, but with this kind… I guess there isn't a lot that they can do."

"Oh honey." She pulled him to her and wrapped him in a tight embrace. Sharon felt the shudder that ran through her boy, but thought she could feel herself trembling too. "I am sorry," she whispered as she stroked his back. She didn't know what to think. This was the man that she had once loved more than anything, who had given her the child that was in her arms. Sharon cupped the back of his head and pressed her lips against his temple. "Did you see him?"

He nodded silently. Ricky laid his head against his mother's shoulder and held on tightly. For just a little while he wanted to be a little boy again and let her chase away all of the monsters beneath his bed. If only it were that simple. "He didn't look like dad," he whispered. "They've um… they've got him with Hospice now. It won't be long, maybe a few weeks?" Ricky lifted his head and looked at her. "He's all alone. I didn't tell Emily. I didn't know what to say."

Sharon cupped his face in her hands. Her thumbs swept away his tears. How could he tell his sister this? That their father was so very, very ill, and this time he would be leaving them for good, although quite against his will. She smiled sadly. Her own eyes were moist with tears. "I will tell her," she said. "You do not need to worry about that. I will take care of your sister."

"Mom, what do we do?" Ricky felt as helpless as he looked. His dark eyes were wide. This was a question that he had been stumbling over in the days since he learned of his father's location and fate. "He's up there all alone. He didn't tell anyone. He went up there to die alone. What are we supposed to do about that?"

"I…" For once Sharon had no answers. Her mouth opened and closed and she leaned back. She clasped Ricky's hands in hers and studied them. She thought of Jack and his pride. He did usually like to nurse his wounds in private. He would not want to present a weak front to the world. However, to disappear and die alone, that was simply taking it to the extreme. Whatever she thought of him, however their marriage had finally ended, no one deserved to be alone at the very end of their life. Sharon squeezed Ricky's hands again. "We will talk about that with Emily. Right now, let me get my things. We will go home and we will call your sister. We will decide what to do as a family, okay?"

"Okay." Ricky looked around her office again. "What about your case? It seemed like it was a pretty heavy one that isn't going to be over for a while. Mom, if you have to work—"

"Nonsense." Sharon swept her fingers beneath her eyes to smooth away the moisture. She stood up and shook her hair back. "My team can more than handle this. If they need me, I will be reachable by phone. You and your sister are far more important." She cupped his chin and smiled down at him. "I cannot promise that we will fix it, darling, but we will handle it."

"I know." Ricky wrapped a hand around her wrist. He closed his eyes and sighed. "What about Andy?" Suddenly she was running off to figure out how to handle her ex-husband's crisis and leaving him holding the bag at work. How was that going to go over?

"Oh, you do not have to worry about that." Sharon waved a hand through the air. She shook her head as she left him and walked around her desk. "Andy is going to understand." They had both come in to this relationship with pasts that carried a good deal of baggage. "If anything, he will be more upset about being stuck here and not actually helping." While Sharon began gathering the files and her laptop she tilted her head to the side. "I do need to tell him, however. Ricky, will you ask Andy and Lieutenant Provenza to step in here, please? I will bring them up to speed and then we will get out of here."

"Sure." Ricky stood watching her. He had his hands tucked into his pockets. "Mom, I'm really sorry about this." He felt like he should be able to handle it on his own, but after seeing his father, he was at a complete loss. Nothing had ever prepared him for this. He was expecting to find Jack drunk, or broke, or quite possibly both. He hadn't expected to find him frail, sick, and dying. It was the very last thought that had been on his mind when he began tracking his father's whereabouts.

"Ricky…" Sharon looked across the desk at him. There was a deep sadness in her gaze. "Do not ever be sorry for coming to me when you need help. It is exactly why I am here. You will never be so old, or so independent, that you cannot come to me. Do you understand?"

His head bowed but Ricky nodded. "I know, it's just that… it's dad. You spent a long time separating yourself from him. I feel bad that I'm pulling you back in."

Her hands stilled as she tucked her things into her bag. Sharon thought about it for a moment. Her lips pursed and finally she shook her head. "Ricky, I have known your father for almost my entire life. This is nothing that you should feel sorry for dragging me in to. Whatever else might have happened between us, this relationship goes back more years than I can really count. Besides, I am still your mother, and nothing else is more important than that. Understood?"

"Yeah." It still didn't feel great. Ricky still felt a little guilty about it. At the same time, he was relieved to have been able to tell his mother what was weighing on his heart, to have her there to help them find the right path. "I'll send the old guys in." Ricky turned and walked toward the door. He stopped just in front of it. "Mom." Ricky looked back at her. "We were lucky to have you. All of us."

She was taken a little by surprise at that. Sharon shifted where she stood. She smiled gently at him and felt tears sting her eyes again. "Ricky, I was lucky to have both of you." She watched him nod and walk quietly through the door. Sharon stood there for a moment, completely unmoving. Her gaze slowly drifted back to her desk. She studied the items that were spread out across it without truly seeing them. Alone now, her mind was racing. Whatever end she thought that she and Jack might eventually come to, this was not how she imagined it.

The sound of her office door opening again drew her out of her thoughts. Sharon looked up as the senior two Lieutenants stepped into her office. Provenza looked suitably curious, but Andy wore a concerned look. Her gaze swept between the two of them quickly before she continued placing her things her brief case. Afterward, Sharon lifted her purse and laid it on her desk. "I am afraid gentlemen," she began carefully, "that something has come up. Lieutenant Provenza, I am leaving this case with you. I am certain that you will continue to work diligently to solve it…" She paused momentarily and met his gaze, "as well as provide regular updates to the Chief."

There was a slight warning in her tone. Provenza rolled his eyes. "Yes, of course." He placed his hands on his hips and watched her pack up. "Everything okay with the kid?" The son had shown up out of the blue and now she was running off. That was enough unlike the Captain to concern him.

"As a matter of fact, it is not." Sharon rested her hands on her briefcase and looked at the two gentlemen in front of her. "There has been a family emergency. I cannot say more than that at the moment, but my attention is needed elsewhere. I will explain my absence to Chief Taylor, and I will be reachable on my cell if I am needed," she assured him. "I was planning to send everyone home in two hours, if there were no further leads, and pick up fresh in the morning."

Provenza nodded once. That was a sound plan, and one that he was already considering too. They were all tired as hell. The case was going nowhere so fast that a good night's sleep would get in its way. "We'll do that." He gestured helplessly with his hands. "I hope everything turns out okay, Captain." There was more that was definitely not being said. He looked back and forth between her and Flynn before he shook his head and left the office. _Idiots_.

He waited until Provenza was gone before he took a step forward. Andy's brows had drawn together in a deep frown. He braced his hands on one of the chairs in front of her desk and leaned toward her. "Sharon, what's going on? Is Ricky okay?" Something was definitely bothering the kid, and he could tell that she was upset by it too. If he didn't miss his guess, she had been crying. That bothered the hell out of him. There wasn't much that would make her cry, at least not in this setting. Yeah, she teared up at sappy old movies, and some of their cases really got to her, hell they got to them all. At the end of the day, when she was wearing that badge, she wore a mask that few were allowed to see beyond.

Sharon drew the strap of her purse over her shoulder and lifted her brief case. "No, Andy, Ricky is not okay." She walked around the desk and stopped beside him. She touched his arm when he straightened. "Jack is sick. Ricky found him in a hospice facility. We need to tell his sister."

"Shit." He ran a hand over his face. That was not what he expected to hear, but then, when was news like that ever expected? Andy shook his head, at a loss. He didn't much care for the guy, but he didn't exactly wish him ill either. Well, not entirely. He might have entertained a few thoughts about cracking a chair over his head, but this was something entirely different and much worse. Andy never wished him _dead_ and certainly not like this. "Dammit, Sharon. I'm sorry…" He didn't know what else to say.

"So am I." Her hand slid down his arm to his wrist. Sharon gave it a squeeze before she moved away from him. "I will see you in a few hours?" She might be leaving him with work to deal with, as Ricky had so eloquently pointed out, but it would not be long before he was home with her again.

"Yeah," Andy nodded slowly. He shrugged as he turned. He followed her to the door and pulled it open for her. "If nothing happens here. I'll pick something up for dinner when I cut out of here." He doubted anyone would really be hungry, but they would need to eat. He stopped her with a frown before she could leave the office. "You okay?"

"Hm." She shrugged at him. "How could I be?" Sharon smiled gently at him. "I will see you soon."

Andy shoved his hands into his pockets and followed her only as far as his desk. His eyes tracked her movement as she left the murder room, heading once again down the hall in the direction of the Chief's office. He didn't envy her that conversation, but nothing could stand in Sharon's way when it came to her kids, not even Taylor. Andy shook his head as he turned back to the work waiting for him. He caught Provenza's eye and sighed. He would tell him later. Right now he wanted to wrap up what they had left to do and get out of there. There were more important things waiting for him at home.

 **-TBC-**


	2. Chapter 2

**Coming Home**

 **By Kadi**

 **Rated: K+**

 **Disclaimer:** This is not my sandbox, but I do enjoy it so.

 **A/N:** As always, thanks to the wonderful beta **deenikn8** and the twin **kate04us**.

 **WARNING:** Character illness  & death. Not main character, depending on POV, but a death just the same.

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

When Andy got home a few hours later, he found the house quiet. There was a light burning upstairs, and another in the kitchen, but little movement to identify who would still be awake at that hour. They had not received a lead in their case, but another Frat house had been broken in to. There was not a murder this time, but since the break-ins were tied to their case, Major Crimes had rolled out to deal with the scene. Provenza sent them all home after the evidence was catalogued for the night. Buzz had already pulled the footage from the traffic cameras and the end of the street that the frat house was located on, but no one had the energy to go over it tonight.

Andy moved through the house quietly. He dropped his jacket over the rail of the stairs that led to the second floor of the beachfront townhouse before making his way toward the kitchen. He wasn't surprised to find that it was Sharon that was still awake. Andy stopped just inside the kitchen to slip off his gun, badge and handcuffs. He placed them on granite-topped counter, along with his phone and wallet. Sharon was seated at the small, round glass-top table in the breakfast nook. Her head was bowed and her hands were wrapped around her favorite teacup. Andy walked through the kitchen without speaking. He stopped at the refrigerator to pour a glass of juice. From the corner of his eye he watched her head lift. Andy carried his glass to the table. He bent and kissed the top of her head before sinking tiredly into a chair beside her.

He placed the glass in front of him and turned it in his hands as he got comfortable. Andy stretched his long legs out beneath the table and finally settled. His back was aching and his shoulders were sore. There was a dull ache behind his eyes and he couldn't really remember the last time that he actually slept more than a couple of hours at a time. It left his eyes feeling dry and gritty, but he ignored all of that as he turned his gaze on the woman beside him.

"Tell me." It was all that he said, all that he needed to say. He wouldn't probe or ask questions. He was home much later than he expected, and if Sharon had waited, given the night that she must have had, and as tired as he knew that she was, there would be a reason for it. In the hours since he saw her last, Andy tried to think about how he would feel if it was him, if Nicole or Charlie had come to him with news that their mother was sick. Then he had to realize that their situations were different. Vicki had tossed him out on his ass when she felt like she couldn't compete anymore, that she couldn't keep pace with his drinking or the hours that he was working. He wouldn't talk to her. He wouldn't tell her about the dark and horrible things that he saw everyday. Andy buried it in a bottle instead, drowned it, actually. It had cost him his marriage and his kids. By the time that he was sober again and stable enough to understand the mistakes that he made, Vicki had remarried and his kids didn't want to see him. He worked long and hard for a lot of years to repair those relationships. It all still boiled down to the same thing. Vicki was the wronged party in all of that, just as Sharon had been in her situation. He could try to put himself in her shoes as much as he wanted, but it would never be the same thing.

Sharon lifted her gaze from the teacup in front of her. The contents had gone cool some time ago. She had no interest in drinking it anyway. Sharon traced the rim of the cup with her thumb before she finally blinked and turned her attention on him more fully. He was exhausted. So was she, but Sharon could see the weight of his fatigue weighing him down. His face was drawn and the lines around his eyes and mouth were deeper than she could recall them being. There were bags and circles beneath his eyes. She could try to put him off, but he wouldn't budge. He would wait until she told him everything. He was stubborn all of the time, but he also cared, and that could make him even more bullheaded. She loved him for that.

"Stage four cancer," she began quietly. "Jack was having stomach pain. Some of his tests came back with unusual results. His doctor referred him to an Oncologist. It started in his pancreas, but in spite of the aggressive treatment, it has since spread to his liver and stomach." Sharon lowered her gaze to the teacup again. "Jack did not want anyone to know that he was sick, so he was seeing a specialist in Palm Springs. They did a couple of rounds of chemo, and when the cancer only spread, he chose to stop treatment. The facility he is in now is a hospice center. Jack checked himself in and… he is preparing to die. It is only a matter of a few weeks now, a month at most."

"Alone?" That didn't seem like the Jack that they knew. Andy couldn't imagine getting a diagnosis like that, and hoped to hell that he didn't have to find out, but the guy they knew never lost an opportunity to manipulate the people around him. "Just like that? Without telling his kids or…" Andy sighed. He scrubbed a hand over his face. "Or you," he finished. He thought back to the year before and how he felt when the doctor had told him about the blood clot. He tried to imagine handling it alone, without telling any of the people that he loved. The thought never really occurred to him. Sure, he wanted to keep it from the team, but when it had come to his kids or to Sharon, he had known that he couldn't keep something like that from them. If anything happened to him, they would be the ones left behind, the ones who would be left with questions that they couldn't get answers to.

"I suppose not." Sharon leaned back in her chair. She looked over at him, eyes sad and hooded. "If Ricky asked him that, it was not conveyed to me. He spoke to his father about what he was planning to do now, and why he had chosen Palm Springs, but there was no deeper motivation mentioned."

Andy leaned forward in his chair and rested his elbows on the table. He turned the juice glass around between his hands and watched the red liquid slosh against the sides without spilling. "How are the kids? What are they going to do now?" They had to be going through hell, finding out that their dad was not just sick, but about to die.

"Hm." Sharon shrugged at him. "They are doing as well as they can be given everything that they know. Ricky feels guilty because he waited so long to search for him. Emily is…" Sharon trailed off with a soft sigh and shook her head. "Devastated. They are both devastated. Emily spent most of the call crying. She is going to rearrange some things and fly out. She should be here by the end of the week. Ricky has had more time to process all of this, but that really does not make it any easier for him. If anything he feels that much worse. Emily spent months trying to tell him that something was wrong. Ricky just did not believe her. It was not the first time that Jack had disappeared on any of us, especially when things were not going particularly well for him."

"Ricky thought his dad had gone off on a bender," Andy finished for her. "That he was off in Vegas or Reno, drinking and gambling. That was not his fault, Sharon. That is exactly what Jack has ended up doing every time that he's left in the past. Hell, he's been drinking and gambling right here in the city. Ricky can't blame himself. It's hard to trust someone who hasn't given you a reason to."

"Of course, and I think that deep down Emily knows that too." Sharon closed her eyes. She shook her head. There was a definite throbbing behind her eyes. She had sent Ricky and Rusty to bed some hours ago, but didn't think that she would be able to sleep if she lay down, despite how very tired she was. She waited for Andy instead. "Convincing Ricky of that fact, however, is not going to be easy," she said.

"No," he agreed, "I can't imagine that it will be. Ricky is a good kid though, and he's got a good head on his shoulders. He'll come around." Andy clasped his hands together and rested his chin against them. His elbows were still propped on the table. "So what is the plan?" He knew Sharon, and by now, he figured that she had worked something out, or at least knew what she wanted to do.

"Emily and Ricky agreed. They want to bring him home." She leaned forward against the table and mimicked his pose. "Neither of them is willing to allow their father to die alone, and the facility in Palm Springs is just… well, that isn't home. Jack still has the apartment in Silver Lake. We are going to bring him back there and arrange for hospice here in the city." Sharon lowered her hands to toy with her cup again. Her gaze dropped. "The apartment is not very big, so Emily and Ricky will stay here for the duration."

"There's definitely room." It was something that they had made sure of when they were looking at properties together. They wanted there to be room for all of the children, specifically Ricky and Emily when they visited during the holidays. Andy didn't have to worry about his two kids. Nicole lived in the city, and when Charlie visited, he always stayed with his mother. Andy tilted his head as he watched Sharon fidget with her coffee cup. "Why do I get the feeling that you're worried about that?"

She looked up at him before sighing. "I am not worried, exactly. This will be the first time that they have stayed with us. Ricky was here for the weekend when we were moving, but everyone was so busy…" She trailed off and offered him a weak and sheepish shrug. "With everything that is happening now, things could get a little uncomfortable around here."

He stared at her for several moments while he tried to figure out what she was saying. Then he nodded. Andy leaned back in his seat. He sighed heavily. It sounded sound in the quiet room. "Yeah, okay." Their dad was dying, and mom was shacking up with another guy. The family that they didn't have was falling further apart. None of that was his fault, but he could provide a convenient target for their hurts and frustrations. Andy didn't really expect that out of Ricky, he was too much like his mother. He might not have stayed with them for any extended period before, but he was in and out of LA while they were dating. Emily, on the other hand, was her daddy's little girl. "Don't worry about it." Andy laid his hand on her back, between her shoulder blades and rubbed gently. "If yelling at me makes them feel better, let them do it. I think I can take it…" A corner of his mouth quirked up in a tired half-grin, "Provenza does it all the time."

"Perhaps," Sharon leaned in to his touch. A small smile turned her lips upright. "But he does not do it in your own home." She shook her head at him. "Andy, I am not going to have anyone feeling uncomfortable here, not for any reason. If they—"

"Actually," he said, interrupting her, "he does." He thought back to the last time that he had Provenza over to watch a game. Andy leaned toward her. "Listen, I think they get a pass. We don't know that they're gonna have any problem with me, but if they do, I think I can handle it." His dark eyes sparkled. "I put up with Rusty's crap for months."

"Yes you did." She lifted her hand to his face and cupped his cheek. "You look tired," she said more quietly. His eyes were heavy and the way that he was sitting, she could tell that he was hurting. "You can fill me in on what kept you in the morning," she decided. Right now, she wanted to put him to bed.

"Yeah." That chair was doing nothing for his back at the moment. "So do you." Andy leaned over and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Come on, I know where my bed is, and you're going with me."

"Wow." She watched him stand. There was a smile curving her lips, and despite the amusement in her eyes, they didn't quite sparkle with their usual light. "Such a charmer. Is that how you proposition all of the ladies?"

"Hey, it got me you, didn't it?" He bent and kissed her cheek, and then her neck, nuzzling until she laughed. Andy slipped his arm around her and drew her up with him. He maneuvered her away from the table and across the kitchen.

"Yes it did." She leaned tiredly into his side. She looked up at him as he retrieved his badge and gun from the counter. "You definitely have me," she told him, suddenly feeling that it needed to be said.

"I know." He cupped the back of her head with his free hand and kissed her. It was quick, and almost chaste. "Sharon, I know that." He wasn't doubting anything that they had together. "It's a hell of a situation, but I'm right here," he promised her. "Okay."

"I know," she said, echoing his response. It had been a long and very emotional night. She shook her head as she leaned in to his side. "I know that," she said more firmly. She was simply not used to having to juggle both sides of her life at the same time, at least, not where it included her history with Jack and all of the emotional baggage that went with it.

"Okay." He decided. He moved his arm around her shoulders and hugged her into his side as they made their way up the staircase. The house had four bedrooms. Their room, Rusty's, and a guest room were upstairs. There was another, smaller, guest room on the first level, at the back of the house. It had a great view of the beach, but was really acting as storage currently. Andy made a mental note to get the boxes out of it before Emily arrived.

Andy kept Sharon tucked into his side as they made their way down the hall. Their room was at the back of the house too. It stretched the length of the house, and had the best view of the ocean. That had been a selling point for him, not because he really cared about the view, but he knew that Sharon did. It wasn't the city view that she had at the condo, but he knew that she liked to stand and watch the waves while her mind was churning. When the weather was mild, they left the windows open, and let the smell of sea and salt in with the sound of the ocean breaking against the shore. It was quiet, peaceful really, and much better than the sound of car horns and squealing tires they were used to hearing with living deeper into the city. In a few years, when they retired, it would be a good place for enjoying the quiet. That was another selling point, and he might not want to admit that he was that old, but Andy didn't mind looking toward the future, especially when that future included Sharon.

That was what they were doing here, wasn't it? Creating a future, even if that just meant living out their retirement together. They were making a home, building a life together. That life would mean having both of their kids around, which was why they had gone for the extra space. There was plenty of beach for their kids, the grandkids, and whomever else to have the full run of. He had the small yard in the front to enjoy, or not, as he so chose, and Sharon had a view. She could stand at the wide, picture windows in their room, or she could enjoy the deck that stretched the length of the back of the house and extended onto the beach itself.

Andy stood in front of those windows with her. His mind had wandered a bit, and while it had, they had stopped in front of the ocean view. He tugged her against his chest, held her from behind with his arms wrapped around her waist and torso. She was encased completely and his lips were in her hair. Her felt her hum and knew that she was letting the view settle her. There was enough of a moon tonight that it was dancing off the water, casting shadows along with its hues of blue and gray. When she hummed a second time and her hands touched his arms, Andy let go of her. He kissed the back of her head before turning away.

Sharon reached up to close the curtains while he walked into the bathroom to peel away the day and get more comfortable. It was a well coordinated dance that they did as they moved around each other in the bathroom, each going about a routine that was so well ingrained by now that it didn't matter how tired they were. By the time that Andy joined her in the bed, she was already on her side, curled around a pillow, facing the wall. Just the sight of the mattress made his body ache. He groaned as he finally stretched out on it, felt his muscles protest at first, and then finally begin to relax. He moved closer to the center of the bed and settled an arm around her waist. Andy hissed when she tucked her cold feet between his calves, and muttered again about getting her decent socks. It was the same _argument_ they had a few times a week since they began sleeping together. The damn woman's feet were always cold. His hand moved beneath her shirt, settled against her stomach as they got comfortable. He kissed her shoulder before he let his head rest against the pillow behind hers. Her feet moved against his leg again, she chuckled, he grumbled.

They were already both half asleep when his mouth opened again. The thought had been there, bouncing around in the back of his mind. It was only the semi-relaxed state that he was in that let it out. "Bring him here. Put him in the room behind the stairs."

Sharon went completely still against him. Her breath hitched. Her eyes, heavy and sleepy though they were, opened. She could see only the wall and the play of shadows against it as moonlight moved between the curtains. "Andy, he has an apartment. Jack is not homeless." Sharon licked suddenly dry lips.

"No, but he's dying." He pulled her closer. "No reason for the kids to shuffle back and forth. He only has a couple of weeks, right? So put him where you and the kids don't have to worry that you won't be with him when it happens."

She rolled onto her back, or as much of it as she could with him nestled in behind her and craned her head to look at him. "Andy, I am not—"

"Yes you will," he cut her protest off before she could fully voice it. "He's the father of your children, don't kid yourself Sharon. You were married to the man for over thirty years, even if he was gone for most of it, it still meant something to you. I was here, remember? I know what it took for you to make the decision to file those divorce papers. I was with you the day that it was finalized." They had only been kidding themselves then, proclaiming to all and sundry and even themselves that they were only friends, but they were the only ones who had believed it. That didn't change anything; he was still the one who had stayed up with her half the night, talking through the implications of divorce at this stage in her life, given everything else, her faith, her career, and her children. "I don't like the son of a bitch," Andy continued, "I won't pretend that I do. He's been nothing but a bastard to you and the kids, but no one should die alone. Even Jack deserves to have what little family he's got around him when he goes, and I might like to pretend otherwise, but that includes you."

Her mouth snapped shut. She was silent for a moment. Sharon rolled in his arms so that she was facing him. Her eyes were moist. She offered him a teary smile. "Jack can have his family around him when he dies without bringing him into our home. There is no reason to do that," she said.

"That might be true," Andy pushed her hair way from her face and laid his arm around her again. "Thing is, he's not the only one that needs to feel comfortable when it happens. If the kids will feel more comfortable being here with you, than in that little place across town, we can do that. That's why we spent so long searching for the right damned place, isn't it? So that what we decided on would be a home? Your kids want to bring him home, Sharon. So do it."

She tucked her face into his neck and pressed closer. Sharon sighed as she settled in his arms. She wanted to cry, and could feel the tears forming behind her eyes, but she was much too tired to do more than blink them away and focus on the warmth that was surrounding her. She knew that she could be difficult. She had rules for everything, but he had found loopholes for every one of them. It drove her crazy that he left his coffee cup on the counter rather than placing it in the sink, and she could never understand how he couldn't quite manage to get his socks into the hamper with the rest of his clothes. When she wanted to rail at the world, at the darkness and the injustices of it all, he would place a glass of wine in front of her and bear the brunt of her mood. He knew when she needed to be held, and he knew when to leave her alone. He was always nearby, though. He was always waiting.

"Have I mentioned that I love you?" Her voice was thick and low, filled with emotion.

"Once or twice." His hands rubbed her back. "It comes up in conversation _occasionally_ ," he teased. Andy closed his eyes and let the feel of her be his peace. Soft curves and cold feet, this was what he longed to have at the end of each day. The sex was good, the sex was fantastic actually, but the feel of her warm body nestled in to his, with her hair tickling his nose and her foot rubbing the inside of his calf, that was what he thought about when he thought of home. He thought of the sound of her laugh, and the brightness of her smile; of lazy afternoons spent doing little more than enjoying a ball game or watching old movies. He thought of days spent working side by side only to fall tiredly into bed together. There were moments frustration, when her stubbornness poked at his temper. He thought of the way that her eyes shined and her teeth scraped at her bottom lip when she wanted him and he couldn't wait to get his hands on her. That was home. It wasn't the size of the house or the view from the deck. He was perfectly content wherever she was at.

"I love you," he told her, in the quiet rumbling way that always made her wriggle closer. He smiled when she did, and let his hand slide down to rest against her hip. "I know what we've got here, and I'm not dumb enough to risk that by thinking that Jack has anything to win here. It was never a competition, Sharon. Bring him home."

"I will talk to Emily and Ricky. If they agree…" She would put all of their options in front of them. They would weigh them out. Jack may protest. There was still the matter of what he wanted in all of this. She had a way around each of his arguments, though. He had denied his children the opportunity to care for him, he had denied them so much more than that over the years, but he would not deny them the chance to say goodbye. For now, Sharon pushed those thoughts aside. She concentrated on the feel of the arms around her, of the warmth that they provided. This was her life now. It was exactly what she wanted, and where she was content and at peace. This man held her heart, and as she fell asleep, she enjoyed the feel of him holding her.

 **-TBC-**


	3. Chapter 3

**Coming Home**

 **By Kadi**

 **Rated: K+**

 **Disclaimer:** This is not my sandbox, but I do enjoy it so.

* * *

 **Chapter 3**

Of the two of them, Sharon was the early riser. Andy liked to squeeze every possible second that he could out of his snooze button before he had to finally shut off the alarm and roll out of bed. The following morning was no different. Sharon was already up when Andy finally pulled himself out of bed. He would have been worried about that, except he remembered her kissing him as she reset the alarm. As usual he grumbled as he rolled into her place and buried his face in her pillow.

Andy had never been much of a morning person. There were things that made getting up with the sunrise bearable, though. A long hot shower, a strong cup of coffee, and wrapping his arm around the woman that held that cup out for him as he shuffled into the kitchen. He pulled her against his chest and tucked his face into her neck. He held her for a moment, and while they swayed, his lips danced against her skin. That early in the morning, however, he wanted the coffee more than he wanted Sharon, so he let her go as he lifted the cup to his mouth. His eyes scanned the room and he found Ricky already seated at the breakfast bar in the center of the kitchen.

"Hey, Ricky." Andy regarded the kid carefully. His shoulders were slumped, his hair was sticking up at all ends, and he looked like he hadn't actually slept.

"Morning Andy." He spoke from behind a coffee cup and without lifting his eyes away from the computer in front of him.

His laptop was open and there was a plate of uneaten breakfast at his elbow. Andy glanced at Sharon who shrugged and shook her head before she walked over to lift a second plate off of the counter beside the stove. She set it on the bar, in his usual place, and backed up to lean against the counter with her coffee cradled in her hands. Andy looked at the plate and arched a brow at her. He picked up the fork that was waiting on the placemat and poked the contents. "Those are real eggs." He looked up at Sharon again. His eyes narrowed with suspicion. "You never let me have real eggs anymore."

Sharon rolled her eyes at him. "Egg whites are real eggs, Andy." She pushed away from the counter and walked over to lean against the bar across from him. "That does not mean that you cannot benefit from the unhindered diet of others." Sharon set her coffee cup on the bar, but kept her hands wrapped around it. She was enjoying the feel of the warmth as it seeped through the cup and into her hands. He still looked tired, but he was wearing the blue-green shirt that she liked so much. Sharon knew that he had probably draped his jacket across the newel post in the other room, but he was going to wear the pinstripe suit today, and it was a favorite of hers too. They were bold enough in appearance to chase away the fatigue that she knew he must have still been feeling. "What happened last night?"

"Another house got hit," he said. Andy scooped eggs into his mouth and groaned. He had forgotten how good real, freshly scrambled eggs tasted. The egg whites that his doctor had suggested, and that Sharon insisted on keeping stocked, tasted like paper in his mouth. Andy pointed his fork at Ricky. "You need to visit more often." When the kid barely grunted in acknowledgement, Andy turned his attention back on Sharon. "We picked up the evidence and pulled the traffic cams. It's all ready to look at first thing this morning. This time they were sloppy. There were prints."

Before Sharon could respond, Ricky's head popped up. He looked at the man beside him. "You're investigating crimes at frat houses now?" His brows rose. "What did you do to make her mad?"

Andy gave Sharon a bland look before he rolled his eyes toward her son. "Why is it automatically _my_ fault? Maybe she's just in a weird mood. Ever think about that?"

"She's always in a weird mood since she started dating you," Ricky shot back with a grin. "No, really, frat houses?"

"There have been several break-ins on the USC campus, nothing has been stolen, but the properties and personal items were damaged," Sharon explained patiently. "At the last house that was vandalized, one of the fraternity members was murdered. That is how the case came to Major Crimes." She had lifted her coffee cup while she spoke, and pointed it at the man across from her as she added, "Andy and the others will continue working the case in my absence."

"Wow, that's messed up." Ricky reached over and took a piece of bacon off his plate. He munched on it while he thought about the implications of the case. "So who do you think did it? A rival house or just some crazy person who's mad at the world?" Ricky pointed his bacon at her. "It's not going to be a singing Santa again, is it? Because _that_ was really messed up. When my frat brothers and I were mad at another house, we just stole all their booze and flirted with their girlfriends. No one broke anything. Well, that's not true, I did knock over a glass trophy thing once."

Sharon frowned at her son. She blinked a few times while she unraveled what he was saying to her. "Okay, one this case has nothing to do with singing Santas, and I would appreciate it if you would let that go." Sharon placed her coffee mug on the counter. Her hand found her hip. "Two, we cannot discuss the exact specifics of the case, because it is an ongoing investigation and three…" She leaned against the bar and arched a brow at him, "I am gratified to know that the education that I paid for went toward fraternity pranks that involved stealing alcohol and girlfriends."

Andy lifted his coffee cup to hide his smile. "Evasive maneuvers," he muttered into the cup. His gaze was directed at the ceiling. "Back away, Rick, back away." He could feel Sharon's eyes on him. He risked a look and found her staring at him with a bland look. He put his coffee cup down and leaned forward. Andy met her look with one of his own. "I have a question," he said. "How come he got bacon?"

A smile curved her lips. Sharon lifted her cup and turned away from the bar. "It is real bacon, not turkey bacon. I let you have eggs." She waved her other hand at him in a magnanimous gesture. She could hear Rusty stirring upstairs. She knew that he would be hungry. Her boy was always starving first thing in the morning. Sharon lifted the bowl she had left by the stove and continued beating the eggs for Rusty's breakfast.

Ricky squinted at the man beside him. "I thought you were doing the vegetarian thing?"

"I am," Andy said with a shrug. "More or less. My doc wants me taking in more meat. We're doing fish and fowl." He still didn't eat red meat, and his intake of the other was pretty light. There were a few things that he found he missed once he started eating them again, bacon, for example, even if it was the turkey bacon and not the real stuff.

"Huh." Ricky nodded slowly. "That's kind of… foul." He smirked. He lifted his coffee cup in a salute before he turned his attention back to the computer in front of him.

Andy grumbled quietly as he finished his eggs. When Sharon laughed, he made faces at her back. He drained his coffee cup and stood. "I need to get back to work." He carried the plate and the cup to the sink and left them sitting beside it. Andy stopped beside Sharon for a quick kiss. "I'll call you later," he said quietly. She would want to get things figured out with the kids, and he would check on her after she had a chance to do that. "We'll keep you updated on the case."

"Hm." Sharon nodded. She leaned in to him for another kiss before he turned away. Her eyes tracked his progress out of the kitchen. Then they went to the sink. She groaned. " _In_ the sink, Flynn!"

Rusty slipped into the kitchen past a laughing Andy. He rolled his eyes as he walked over to pour himself a cup of coffee. "You know he just does it on purpose now, right?"

Sharon huffed a sigh and turned back to the stove. "That man!"

Rusty shared a look with his brother. They both rolled their eyes. Their mother was so married, and she didn't even know it. Rusty slipped onto the stool that Andy had vacated and leaned over to peer at his brother's laptop. "Any luck?"

"I can get her here on the five-thirty. It's non-stop but it's a six-hour flight. She'll leave New York at one-thirty, and if she hurries, she can be packed and at the airport in time to make the flight." Ricky lifted his coffee cup and drained the contents. He sighed a bit mournfully at the empty cup before getting up to refill it.

"Yeah, but this is Emily that we are talking about." Rusty made a face at his brother. A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. "Have you seen how she packs?"

"Rusty." Sharon cast a pointed look at him. She shook her head slowly before she turned her attention to the stove and his eggs.

"Well, he's not lying, mom." Ricky pulled a carton of creamer out of the refrigerator and added it to his coffee. "I thought about that. There are later flights, but if she arrives too late, there won't really be a lot of time to talk. Unfortunately, we really don't have a lot of time to spare for some of these decisions. The sooner that we can get Emily here, the better." He walked back over to the bar and slipped onto his stool again. "I sent her a text ten minutes ago. I'm waiting for her to confirm that she can make the one-thirty. If she can, I'll book it."

"What happens then?" Rusty's gaze moved between his brother and their mother. "What if Jack doesn't want to come back to LA? He went to Palm Springs for a reason. I mean, you can't just force him to come back here, right?"

"Well, no…" Ricky began, but stopped when his mother turned.

"Force is such a strong word," Sharon said. "I would not really think of it as _forcing_ Jack to do anything. I would rather call it… collective persuasion." She pointed her spatula at Rusty. "You are also assuming, Rusty, that Jack believed he had any reason at all to stay in LA. I can understand that he was reluctant to have people know that he was sick in the beginning, but we are well beyond that now." She would wait to discuss Andy's proposition with the children when they were all together.

"I guess." Rusty rested his elbows against the bar and leaned forward against it. "It just really sucks. He's not _that_ bad…" When his brother cast a disbelieving look at him, Rusty sighed. "Okay, he can be that bad, but not deserving-Cancer-bad."

"On that we are all agreed." Sharon cast a sad look at her eldest son before she turned back to the stove again. "Go ahead and book the flight, Ricky. I am certain that your sister will do what she can to make it."

Ricky had already loaded the flight information. All that was left was to confirm the purchase. He did that and emailed the itinerary to his sister before closing the laptop and putting it aside. He pulled his breakfast in front of him. It had gone cold, but Ricky didn't care. He poked at it, not truly hungry, but looking for something to do while his mother cooked and his brother waited. She didn't want to really discuss the situation anymore, not until Emily arrived. Ricky couldn't blame her for that. The waiting was the hardest part, but he felt better now that he was not carrying this knowledge alone. Ricky glanced at his brother while he sat there. "So," he began. "How are, um, Gus and school? Are you still doing that video blog?"

"Yeah." Rusty rested his chin in his hand. "School is good. Gus is…" He shifted uncomfortably on his stool, as he always did when talking about his boyfriend with members of the family. "He's doing really good too. He's back in school." Rusty smiled proudly. "I think he finally got tired of mom not-so-subtly hinting that he should do it and decided to enroll."

"What is wrong with encouraging a bright young man to further his education?" Sharon scooped the scrambled eggs onto a plate, along with a few pieces of bacon and carried it to the bar. She set it in front of Rusty and rested her hands against the edge of the granite surface. Her brows rose in askance. "Gus has been talking about going back to school for as long as we have known him, and I honestly believe that it was something that he did not truly believe that he could do. What Gus needed was for someone who was not his boyfriend to believe that he could do it too." Sharon shifted where she stood, straightening and smiling, just a bit proud of herself. "Besides, Gus likes me. He appreciates my opinion on these sorts of things."

Rusty rolled his eyes toward his brother and cast a miserable look at him. "If we ever break up, she might just adopt him. Consider yourself warned."

"Oh very funny." Sharon shook her head at him. She turned away from both of her boys to retrieve her coffee cup and refill it. "I cannot tell you how happy it makes me to be made fun of by my children." When she turned, she found the boys rolling their eyes at each other. "I saw that." Sharon leaned against the counter and held her cup cradled in both of her hands. "I find it endlessly amusing that even as you get older, you still fail to believe that I might have once experienced some of what you are going through now…" As they began to laugh, especially Rusty, her eyes narrowed. "Yes?" She asked, drawing the syllable out.

"Nothing." Ricky tried to hide his laughter behind his coffee cup and failed. "It's just that… I am sure that you're right. Growing up in the fifties must have been a really enlightenin—" He ducked when she tossed a dishtowel at him.

"I did _not_ , as you well know, grow up in the fifties!" She lifted her chin at them. "I was born at the end of that decade. I was most definitely a child of the sixties, and I will also have you know—"

"Well, that explains it." Rusty snickered. He watched her, eyes sparkling even as she gave him a pointed look that would usually send him scurrying from the room. "All of her rules come from a tormented childhood of _free love_." He and Ricky leaned against one another as they laughed.

"She's compensating for her misspent youth," Ricky told him.

Sharon looked away from both of them and sighed. She considered it for a moment and then she shrugged and walked away. "I will remember this," she said. "In fact, since I am so _old_ and _feeble_ , oh yes, and let us not forget _traumatized_ , I believe that I will let Andy do all of the cooking for the next little while…"

Rusty immediately sobered and sat upright. "Oh no."

Ricky frowned when his brother slipped off the stool and made to follow their mother. "Where are you going?"

"To grovel." Rusty shot a look back at him. "You haven't lived here. You don't know Andy's cooking."

Ricky's brows rose. "How bad could it be? The guy lived alone for, like, forty years or something."

Rusty leveled him with a grim look. "He burns spaghetti."

His jaw dropped open. Ricky's eyes went wide. "Dude. Who burns spaghetti?"

"Exactly."

Ricky watched his brother hurry out of the room. He sat there for a moment, thinking about it. It only took imagining the smell of scorched pasta for him to follow. "Mom, on second thought…"

The remainder of the day passed slowly. Sharon worked from home while fielding calls from her daughter, when she was not actually in the air. She also spoke to local hospice services and researched what it would take to prepare either her home or Jack's apartment for his care during his final days. That required a little stealth on her part. She wanted to discuss the idea of bringing Jack back to the house with both of her children, but not until she had fully wrapped her mind around it.

Sharon wasn't convinced that it was a good idea, although she was touched by the offer. She weighed the pros and cons, and when Andy called that afternoon to check on everyone, she asked him again if he was sure that he was willing to take that responsibility on. He and Jack were hardly civil at the best of times, although Sharon had to admit that the fault in that usually resided on her ex-husband's shoulders. That was not to say that Andy was completely blameless, she was well aware of how hot-tempered he could be.

Andy insisted that he could handle the situation. He wouldn't have offered if he didn't think he was willing to stand behind it. Sharon believed that _he_ believed that, but the entire situation was going to be difficult and emotional. She was still a bit wary of the idea, although the convenience of it was trying to outweigh that. In the end, she decided to acknowledge the simplest fact that would be laying beneath all of their decision making. They would not allow Jack to die alone. Whatever else he had done in his life, he had fathered her children, and as Andy said… she was married to the man for more than thirty years. That meant something, even if much of it was painful and difficult. It was her children that she ultimately thought of. She wanted both of them where they would be comfortable and where she could care for them while they prepared to say goodbye to their father.

She made up her mind to pose the suggestion to her children by the time that they had retrieved Emily from the airport that evening. The drive home through traffic was slow going, but when they finally made it, dinner was waiting for them. Rusty had a lab that he couldn't miss, and had ordered Chinese from their favorite restaurant. Dinner was not the least bit appealing to any of them with the conversation that was looming over their heads, but they sat at the dinner table to eat while they discussed all of their options.

Emily waited until her mother was settled before she asked the first question that was on her mind. "I thought that this was a family discussion? Where is Andy?"

There was something combative in her girl's tone. Sharon arched a brow at her. She studied her daughter closely while she pushed food around her plate. "This is a family discussion," she stated carefully. "Andy wanted to be here, but that simply was not possible tonight. He is—"

"Working?" Emily snorted derisively. She tabbed a piece of broccoli with her fork. "That sounds a little familiar. I just bet you've got that one memorized," she muttered.

Ricky and Rusty exchanged a look across the table. Ricky was seated directly beside his sister while Rusty was on the other side of the table. "Emily," Ricky cast a quick look at her. "That's not why we're here, okay?" He hadn't realized his sister had any issues with their mother's new relationship… not that it was new, not at this point. They were living together, and had been for a few months.

Sharon put her fork down and folded her hands in her lap. She tilted her head at her daughter. "No, Ricky, that is quite alright. If your sister has something to say, I think it best that she do that." She kept her face carefully neutral while she stared at her daughter, waiting to hear what it was that had her so upset, aside from the obvious purpose of her visit. "Go ahead, Emily. What is it about Andy's absence that you find so offensive?"

She was silent for a moment. Emily studied her plate while several thoughts bounced around in her mind. She placed her fork on the edge of her plate and met her mother's gaze. "Very well," she began as she straightened in her seat, "How many excuses are you going to make for Andy before you toss him aside like you did Dad? How many times did you use that line on us, Mom? How often did we have to hear that our father couldn't make a party, or a family dinner, or a school event because he was working? Why is it that you always expected us to accept that he couldn't be in our lives, and to be patient about it, until _you_ decided that it was time to stop? Here you are living this whole new life, but it isn't really _new_ is it? You are still using the same old lines! What actually changed?"

She shook her hair back. In her lap, unseen by the children, her hands clenched tightly together. Emily had always been the more emotional of her two eldest children. She was like her father in that regard. Ricky tended to let things build, to brood a bit and overanalyze. That was on her, she supposed. Sharon's lips pressed into a thin line and she let silence settle over the table. Emily's eyes were flashing with irritation and hurt, but there was little anger in her expression. She was in pain, and she was lashing out, but there was only so far that Sharon would allow her daughter to go. "I understand that you are upset," she said quietly, "and I can even see where this situation may feel familiar. That is not what is happening, Emily. Andy would like to be here, and I am sure that he will be later, but we caught a case a few days ago and the team cannot be without both of us. While I would certainly like for him to be here instead, what I need from him the most is to know that he is doing his job and that my team is able to function while I focus on more important matters."

"Right." Emily didn't fully believe her. She picked up her fork again and shoved her dinner around on her plate. "That new job, the one that has been keeping you from spending any meaningful time with your family. Except for the part where it got you a new kid, a new man, a new house and a whole new life. Funny thing is, mom, you used to have all of that and slowly got rid of it all. First dad, and then the house, so how soon until you're tossing Andy out because he can't quite cut it?"

The biting sarcasm in her daughter's tone was her limit. Sharon's eyes hardened. Her voice dropped a few octaves. She pinned her daughter with a look and leaned forward in her seat. "I did not realize that you had such a very low opinion of me, Emily. Perhaps we should get a few facts straight before we continue. I would really not like to watch you make more of a fool of yourself than you already are. Point number one; I did not get rid of your father. He left, repeatedly. You can blame that on me if you choose to, but the truth is, he left all of us. Point number two; I sold the house because I could not afford to keep it. Your father helped with that, but I understand that it would be hard for you to know that. There are many things that your father did over the years that I kept from both of you because I thought it was better to preserve a relationship between you. Your father mortgaged the house twice before I was able to put an end to it. The second time he did it there was a balloon payment that I cashed in part of my retirement to pay. I sold the house because your father had created more debts than I could pay and still manage to afford ballet class, the trendy clothes that you simply had to have, and two college tuitions."

She had sold it when Ricky started college because the money simply had not been there and she could not afford to take another hit on her retirement, nor would she ask her parents for help. With the sale of the house she managed to pay off most of the debts that Jack had wracked up over the years, pay for Ricky's tuition, and manage the down payment on her condo. In the years since, Sharon had invested well and recovered. She was comfortable now, but she remembered all too well what it had felt like to not be, a feeling that she had made sure that her children would never know. Sharon's jaw clenched as she watched surprise settle over all three of their features. Ricky looked miserable and Rusty's shoulders slumped. Her youngest was always so cognizant of how much he was costing her; something she had tried very hard to convince him was unnecessary.

"It took me years to untangle myself from the mess that Jack created," Sharon continued. " _Years_ , Emily. When your father came back the last time, I simply was not willing to go down that road with him again. He proved time, and time again that I could not rely on him. Yes, when he began repeating the same patterns with Rusty I was far enough removed that I was able to see it better, and for that I do apologize. I was simply done, Emily. Divorce was the only option that remained. Jack has always wanted to go his own way, and I allowed him to do that. Point number three; my whole new life, as you so eloquently put it, is just that. Mine. I think that I deserve to live in a way that I choose after raising two children, alone I might add, and to pursue whatever career I find fulfilling. As to your brother and my relationship with Andy," She said, waving at Rusty to indicate her _new kid_ , "those decisions have nothing to do with you, and they have nothing to do with Jack. Rusty is my son and Andy is my partner, and unless he chooses to leave, I cannot foresee anything that will change that. Are we perfectly clear now?"

The boys mumbled their understanding from their seats. Both of them were staring at their plates, but it was Emily that she was focused on. Her daughter was staring back at her and the emotions that had played out across her face had run the gamut from surprise to horror and finally hurt. Sharon sighed quietly. Losing her temper with her children always left her feeling wiped and just a little empty. It was why she preferred to remain silent when they were being difficult. Her infamous silent treatment had a purpose, to protect them as much as herself. "Emily?"

She looked away. There were tears in her eyes. Emily shook her head quietly. A single tear made its way down her cheek and she reached up to wipe it away. "Yes, I understand. I'm sorry." Neither of them had ever known that it was ever quite that bad. She never told them, and she certainly never let them see it. Their mother had said that she was selling the house because it was just too big for one person to live in alone. She didn't tell them about the financial troubles. It made sense, though, in a way, and Emily wondered if she had always suspected in the back of her mind that was the real reason. How else had their mother managed to so fully separate herself from their father's debts and still come out with a decent retirement and a comfortable nest egg. The truth was that she had put them through college, helped them get settled in their chosen cities afterward, and they never questioned where the money was coming from. "Mom…" Emily shook her head and looked away. She was unable to speak past the thick, painful lump in her throat.

"I understand this situation is difficult," Sharon said quietly. "I understand that you are angry and that you are hurting. If yelling at me will make you feel better, so be it, but Emily, I never asked your father to leave. Not even when we were separated."

The hitch in her voice had Emily's gaze swinging back to her mother. She nodded before she looked down, tears flowing more freely now. "He always finds a reason to leave," she said quietly, and looked at her hands again. "This time," Emily whispered, "he's leaving for good."

Sharon pushed out of her chair and walked around the table. She had only to lift her arm and Emily was turning in to her, face buried against her stomach. Sharon wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She looked down Ricky, seated beside his sister and lifted her other arm. He leaned in to her side and she combed her fingers through his unruly hair. Sharon pressed her lips against the top of his head. Both of her babies were hurting so badly, and there was nothing that she could do to fix it, not this time. Emily was right. Jack was leaving for good this time, and she would swallow her pride for her children, as she had in the past. She would ask him to stay, again. Only this time, it didn't matter if he wanted to or not.

It was out of all of their hands now.

 **-TBC-**


End file.
